tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-61081382010-03-17T00:01:45.626-04:00The Magazine of Independent FilmWebmasterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03643468321632241172noreply@blogger.comBlogger3123125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6108138.post-5184018043682705532010-03-16T23:56:00.002-04:002010-03-17T00:01:45.637-04:00

Filmmaker recently moved from Blogger to Wordpress and also changed servers. I posted previously about this but from my recent trip to SXSW it seems that many people didn't know. (I was asked by several people why I stopped blogging.) So, if you are reading this, please take a moment and change your Filmmaker blog bookmark to this: http://filmmakermagazine.com/news/category/news/If you

Scott Macaulayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04728573558664904533noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6108138.post-75361874104519835632010-03-03T15:35:00.002-05:002010-03-03T15:37:09.773-05:00

... we are in the midst of moving to Wordpress. For the next week or so the Filmmaker blog is being mirrored in two places. New posts are here. After this move is complete this URL will be the correct one again. Sorry for any confusion.

Scott Macaulayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04728573558664904533noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6108138.post-41396565198664292962010-02-25T10:04:00.005-05:002010-02-25T16:23:39.296-05:00

The Film Society of Lincoln Center and Museum of Modern Art have announced the films selected for this year's New Directors/New Films.In its 39th year, the series, taking place March 24 - April 4 at the Walter Reade Theater at Lincoln Center and the Roy and Niuta Titus Theaters at MoMA, will screen 38 films from emerging filmmakers. Richard Press's documentary Bill Cunningham New York will be the

Jason Guerrasiohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14958031172216065142noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6108138.post-30401643315809764622010-02-25T09:59:00.003-05:002010-02-25T16:23:39.299-05:00

FEBRUARY - shot on the Canon EOS 550D / Rebel T2i (preprod unit) from Nino Leitner on Vimeo.From filmmaker Nino Leitner.This short film, FEBRUARY, was shot on a pre-production unit of the new Canon EOS 550D / Rebel T2i. This is UNGRADED footage straight off the camera (converted to ProRes LT first for easy editing). I used a "flattened" picture style as outlined by Stu Maschwitz on his blog.Check

Scott Macaulayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04728573558664904533noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6108138.post-71095351499693444892010-02-25T00:01:00.004-05:002010-02-25T16:23:39.301-05:00

Big news out of Sundance tonight: Keri Putnam, former President of Production at Miramax Films and Executive Vice President at HBO Films, has been named the new Executive Director of the Sundance Institute. The position was previously held by Ken Brecher, who left Sundance last April.Keri is well known to many of us in the independent community for her leadership at Miramax and HBO, where she

Scott Macaulayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04728573558664904533noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6108138.post-83943151355512669412010-02-24T11:00:00.002-05:002010-02-25T16:23:39.303-05:00

Of all the people I know — artists, musicians, filmmakers — who make dark, dark things, the French director Philippe Grandrieux is the sunniest. In person, he projects a passionate joy about his filmmaking craft, and the disturbing events contained within his films are not projections of surface-level angst or garden-variety emotional torment but rather philosophical inquiries into our

Scott Macaulayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04728573558664904533noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6108138.post-78604488860332899352010-02-23T12:00:00.001-05:002010-02-25T16:23:39.304-05:00

Here's the just-released trailer for Elijah Drenner's American Grindhouse, which plays SXSW next month.

Scott Macaulayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04728573558664904533noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6108138.post-22309120455052074382010-02-23T10:22:00.005-05:002010-02-25T16:23:39.306-05:00

American Hardcore filmmakers Paul Rachman and Steven Blush have a new project: Lost Rockers, a documentary "about great musicians overlooked by pop culture." From the project's Kickstarter page:LOST ROCKERS... offers insight into what it takes to “make it,” and why so many of equal talent to famous stars fall through the cracks. The film tells the life stories of these forgotten artists — of

Scott Macaulayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04728573558664904533noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6108138.post-40646690037862942362010-02-23T09:00:00.001-05:002010-02-25T16:23:39.308-05:00

The Wall Street Journal-hosted Venture Capital Dispatch blog linked to my article yesterday about the closing of independent film distributor and festival website service business B-Side Entertainment. Scott Austin's piece focused on comments made in the piece by CEO Chris Hyams and President of Distribution Paola Freccero about the company's fate at the hands of the VC funding model. The

Scott Macaulayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04728573558664904533noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6108138.post-26512863840664408722010-02-22T10:25:00.006-05:002010-02-25T16:23:39.310-05:00

B-side Entertainment, the Austin-based tech and distribution company that provides website services to film festivals, is closing. The company, which launched a New York-based distribution arm just 13 months ago, lost its funding from venture capital fund Valhalla Partners in late 2009. “We have spent the last four or five months looking for a [financing] alternative,” B-Side CEO and founder

Scott Macaulayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04728573558664904533noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6108138.post-3746392588707816042010-02-21T22:16:00.002-05:002010-02-25T16:23:39.312-05:00

Congrats to Kathryn Bigelow and the whole team behind The Hurt Locker for winning Best Director and Best Film at this year's BAFTA Awards.

Scott Macaulayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04728573558664904533noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6108138.post-69929855709183094302010-02-19T19:22:00.003-05:002010-02-25T16:23:39.314-05:00

I saw Russian director Alexei Popogrebsky’s How I Ended This Summer only near the tail end of the festival, at a screening an expensive cab ride away from the usual venues and with German subtitles. Thankfully, I studied just enough German in school to follow it, but it was a strain. The projection was late at night as well, and I was exhausted. But I smelled an excellent work, in part from a

Howard Feinsteinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09827775061351386135noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6108138.post-23987796626675201612010-02-19T17:00:00.001-05:002010-02-25T16:23:39.316-05:00

Variety reports that the IFP fiscally-sponsored documentary Chosin will be made into an $80 million 3-D narrative version with Journey to the Center of the Earth's director Eric Brevig taking the helm and Chosin director Brian Iglesias coming on as one of the executive producers. The film will be the first war epic made in digital 3-D.Titled 13 Days of Winter, the film will follow the 1950 Battle

Melissa Silvestrihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12997326258862803492noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6108138.post-56735216497951998312010-02-18T22:57:00.009-05:002010-02-25T16:23:39.318-05:00

IFP has announced its recipients of its annual IFP Independent Filmmaker Lab Finishing Grants totaling $90,000. Congratulations goes to Stranger Things' Eleanor Burke and Ron Eyal and War Don Don's Rebecca Richman Cohen. Both will receive a package valued at $45,000, that includes post-production services from Goldcrest Post New York, post-graphic services from Edgeworx, Inc., legal consultation

Melissa Silvestrihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12997326258862803492noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6108138.post-89708052087616369222010-02-18T00:58:00.003-05:002010-02-25T16:23:39.319-05:00

The film must-read of the moment is Chris Jones' beautifully written profile of Roger Ebert in Esquire magazine. Of course the article chronicles Ebert's recent health problems — cancer operations that have wound up removing much of his lower job and eliminated his ability to eat, drink, and speak. But the piece also succeeds in capturing the strange and inspiring mix of sagacity and serenity

Scott Macaulayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04728573558664904533noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6108138.post-33405988416080473822010-02-18T00:32:00.003-05:002010-02-25T16:23:39.322-05:00

Filmmaker and frequent Filmmaker contributor Jamie Stuart sent a link to a simply gorgeous suite of 22 photos he shot around Central Park and other locations during New York's recent snowstorm. Take a moment and head to his site to view the photos, which were all done, astonishingly, on his iPhone camera using the Old Camera app.

Scott Macaulayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04728573558664904533noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6108138.post-13854896343689430402010-02-18T00:00:00.003-05:002010-02-25T16:23:39.323-05:00

At Filmmaker we've been on top of the DSLR story — the use of small digital SLR still cameras by filmmakers — in a series of articles beginning last year. (See "Shutterbugs" in Spring, 2009, and "Pimp your DSLR" in Summer.) That said, Ryan Bilsborrow-Koo has just posted an astonishingly detailed and useful article on his No Film School site called "The DSLR Cinematography Guide." It's got a huge

Scott Macaulayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04728573558664904533noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6108138.post-51635045353736881732010-02-17T23:40:00.004-05:002010-02-25T16:23:39.325-05:00

It’s more than a little odd that The Ghost Writer, Roman Polanski’s best film in 30 years, is in the official Berlin competition. Yes, the 76-year-old veteran is up against a few other prolific filmmakers such as Zhang Yimou and Michael Winterbottom, but many of the others have only one or two features under their belts. And, at the end of the day, as beautifully executed as The Ghost Writer is

Howard Feinsteinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09827775061351386135noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6108138.post-84762669513265770322010-02-16T17:55:00.002-05:002010-02-25T16:23:39.331-05:00

A couple of weeks ago I blogged about Matt Porterfield's Kickstarter campaign for his film Putty Hill. He needed to raise $10,000, and with 30 hours left to go, he is still collecting funds over and above his goal; he's currently at $18,926. Undoubtedly, the film's high-profile premiere — in the Berlin Film Festival's Forum section — helped. You can follow his adventure there over at the IFP blog

Scott Macaulayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04728573558664904533noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6108138.post-62570047894036131362010-02-16T10:00:00.001-05:002010-02-25T16:23:39.334-05:00

In the Fall of 2008 filmmaker Jeff Deutchman asked his friends from around the world to record their feelings and experiences on the day Barack Obama was elected President. The resulting material comprises his feature 11/4/08, which premieres at SXSW next month, and Deutchman is still in post raising money. He has a Kickstarter page and is looking to raise $3,500 for color correction and the

Scott Macaulayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04728573558664904533noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6108138.post-84849727106270708532010-02-16T09:00:00.001-05:002010-02-25T16:23:39.336-05:00

Returning to the Anthology Film Archives following an opening night event at Kush Lounge is Cinekink NYC. No rebel posturing here, just an eclectic selection of docs, fiction and experimental works dealing with some form of alternative sexuality. This year's fest kicks off tonight at Kush Lounge with an opening party and screenings of JX Williams 1964 short, The 400 Blow Jobs. According to the

Scott Macaulayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04728573558664904533noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6108138.post-60258764756831798682010-02-15T21:46:00.003-05:002010-02-25T16:23:39.338-05:00

Hot off the hard drive, here is the latest episode of the New Breed's Park City series. This one pulls together producers and directors to talk about the strategic, pro-active steps they are taking to connect their films to audiences.The official word:SABI filmmakers Zak Forsman and Kevin K. Shah pick up with Ted Hope where he left off in the last episode to further explore the solutions that are

Scott Macaulayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04728573558664904533noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6108138.post-24944578461007621412010-02-15T15:18:00.020-05:002010-02-25T16:23:39.339-05:00

UPDATE 2/16: Screen reports that the remake rumors are just that.The biggest news so far to come out of the Berlin Film Festival is on a film that was made 36 years ago. Spreading all over the blogs, Lars von Trier and Martin Scorsese are supposedly mulling over the idea of remaking Taxi Driver with Robert De Niro to reprise the role of Travis Bickle. In Variety, Gunnar Rehlin reports:The idea

Jason Guerrasiohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14958031172216065142noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6108138.post-11385360710688470062010-02-15T10:00:00.002-05:002010-02-25T16:23:39.341-05:00

One independent film I've been aware of for some time (it's described in the press materials as "a labor of love five years in the making") and was happy to see in the SXSW line-up is David Robert Mitchell's The Myth of the American Sleepover. It's Mitchell's feature debut, it was produced by Adele Romanski, and it was shot on the RED One by Medicine for Melancholy's James Laxton. Check out the

Scott Macaulayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04728573558664904533noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6108138.post-63886233259453381762010-02-15T09:00:00.000-05:002010-02-25T16:23:39.344-05:00

Film titles? If you're like many independent filmmakers, by the time you get to them you are low on post funds and you suddenly wind up with a newfound artistic appreciation of Woody Allen's career-long white serif font on black approach. To inspire you to set aside some money during budgeting for a title sequence that will be as groundbreaking as your movie, check out Forget the Film, Watch the

Scott Macaulayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04728573558664904533noreply@blogger.com0